Mental Attitude: Wash Your Mouth With Soap? Lying creates a desire to clean a “dirty” body part. In an experiment, people who lied on a phone voicemail felt a stronger desire for mouthwash and were willing to pay more for it than those who lied in an e-mail. Those who lied in an e-mail felt […]

Mental Attitude: Just A Little Bit Of Chocolate. Small amounts of dark chocolate can be a physical upper as dark chocolate has an effect on the levels of brain endorphins, those feel-good chemicals our bodies produce. Dark chocolate also seems to have a heart-healthy anti-clogging effect in our blood vessels. Dutch men who ate 1/3 […]

Mental Attitude: Don’t Go Crazy With Caffeine. Caffeine can increase irritability. If the caffeine you consume later in the day disrupts your nighttime sleeping, you are likely to be cranky and exhausted until you get a good night’s rest. Caffeine can also bring on a burst of energy, often ending with a spiral into fatigue. […]

Mental Attitude: Get A Daily Dose Of Vitamin D. People can help manage their mood by getting at least 1,000 to 2,000 IU of vitamin D a day. Recent studies show an association between low serum levels of vitamin D and higher incidences of four mood disorders: PMS, seasonal affective disorder, non-specified mood disorder and […]

Mental Attitude: Depressed? Try Fish. Men and women have a lower risk for depression if they eat a lot of fish, particularly fatty fish like salmon, which are high in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s from fish seem to have positive effects on clinically defined mood swings, such as postpartum depression. Good sources of omega-3 fatty […]

Mental Attitude: Achieving Goals Good For The Mind. Achieving personal goals can help in the early stages of dementia management. People who received cognitive rehab felt their daily activity performance improved. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry Health Alert: Superheroes Send Wrong Image? Watching superheroes beat up villains may not be the best image for boys […]

Mental Attitude: Don’t Antagonize Me! Antagonistic people, and especially those who are manipulative and aggressive, have a higher risk of stroke and heart attack, due to arterial thickening, than people who are more agreeable, straightforward and compliant. Those in the lowest 10% of agreeableness were 40% more likely to show an increase in artery wall […]

Mental Attitude: Can’t Stop Thinking About Cigarettes. Blocking thoughts of cigarettes helps reduce smokers’ intake… at first. However, smokers soon experience a behavioral rebound, the phenomenon where trying not to think about something leads to an increase in the behavior. These findings have implications for individuals seeking to give up smoking, overeating, drinking and other […]